Alpna Seth, Ph.d.

Biography

Alpna Seth, Ph.D., is Chief Operating Officer at Vir. Previously, Alpna worked at Biogen for over 19 years in roles of increasing responsibility across R&D, Commercial, Strategy, Portfolio Planning and General Management, while living and working in the US, Europe and Asia. Most recently as Senior Vice President she led the set up and operations of Biogen’s global Biosimilars Business Unit based out of International HQ in Switzerland. Previously, she was Vice President and Program Executive of TECFIDERA® (the leading oral MS drug) based out of corporate HQ in the Boston area. In this general management role, she successfully led the pivotal Phase III read-outs, regulatory filings, marketing approvals and blockbuster commercial launches worldwide. At Biogen, she also served as Managing Director in India, setting up the affiliate from inception, and as collaboration leader for Biogen and Idec’s oncology collaboration, which culminated in a merger. Alpna has led multiple global drug development programs across therapeutic areas and modalities (gene therapy, biologics, NCEs), from discovery to commercialization stages. Before joining Biogen, she was a management consultant in the health care industry. She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed post-doctoral research at Harvard University in Immunology and Structural Biology. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program (AMP) and has served as a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School and Harvard Medical School. More recently Alpna has received specialized training to serve in Non-Executive Director roles. 

Research Interest

Alpna Seth, Ph.D., is Chief Operating Officer at Vir. Previously, Alpna worked at Biogen for over 19 years in roles of increasing responsibility across R&D, Commercial, Strategy, Portfolio Planning and General Management, while living and working in the US, Europe and Asia. Most recently as Senior Vice President she led the set up and operations of Biogen’s global Biosimilars Business Unit based out of International HQ in Switzerland. Previously, she was Vice President and Program Executive of TECFIDERA® (the leading oral MS drug) based out of corporate HQ in the Boston area. In this general management role, she successfully led the pivotal Phase III read-outs, regulatory filings, marketing approvals and blockbuster commercial launches worldwide. At Biogen, she also served as Managing Director in India, setting up the affiliate from inception, and as collaboration leader for Biogen and Idec’s oncology collaboration, which culminated in a merger. Alpna has led multiple global drug development programs across therapeutic areas and modalities (gene therapy, biologics, NCEs), from discovery to commercialization stages. Before joining Biogen, she was a management consultant in the health care industry. She obtained her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed post-doctoral research at Harvard University in Immunology and Structural Biology. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program (AMP) and has served as a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School and Harvard Medical School. More recently Alpna has received specialized training to serve in Non-Executive Director roles.